The United Kingdom has sanctioned individuals and businesses connected with the Wagner Group in Mali, the Central African Republic, and Sudan, issuing thirteen new designations on July 20, 2021. According to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the sanctioned persons have underpinned the Wagner Group’s efforts to advance Russian foreign policy interests in the region; their actions have supported the Wagner Group in measures that threaten the peace and security of Sudan, and further the violence in Mali and the CAR. The UK attributes self-serving ambitions to the Wagner Group in Africa, and associates the group’s mercenaries with human rights violations, including the indiscriminate killing of civilians.
Among the designees is Ivan Alexsandrovitch Maslov, head of the Wagner Group in Mali, which has aided in the massacre of civilians, in rape, and in torture. Likewise, the head of the Wagner Group in CAR, Vitalii Viktorovitch Perfilev, has been designated for targeting civilians in that country. In Sudan, businesses that act as front companies for the Wagner Group have been targeted.
On July, 12, 2023, the United Kingdom issued a package of sanctions targeting companies that provide funding and military equipment to the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan. These sanctions focus on the multi-billion-dollar conglomerates and companies that provide the warring factions with funding and weapons, and enable them to perpetuate violence that has resulted in the displacement of over two million people, and created a humanitarian crisis in an area already weakened by war and drought. The sanctions freeze any assets held in the UK by the designated entities — three companies controlled by the Sudanese Armed Forces, and three companies associated with the Rapid Support Forces.